IRA Newsletter Literacy Website #2

Lolita S. Torres

ED 638-40 Fall Intersession

Dr. M. Rivera

IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Websites #2

December 31, 2018

Epic! (https://www.getepic.com/) offers access to unlimited award winning fiction and nonfiction books, videos, STEM, language arts, social science, history, music, arts, science fiction, and DIY for young children. This mobile technology sync across the devices so young children can read on the go. The website carries more than 14,000 e-book titles from more than 100 publishers—including HarperCollins, Macmillan, Candlewick, Disney, Bellwether Media, and Eerdmans—and describes itself as “the world’s largest digital library for kids.” The focus is on providing unlimited access to high-quality content for children 12 and younger via a platform available on the Web, iOS, and Android devices, as well as Apple TV, for $4.99 per month.

The Epic! (https://www.getepic.com/) content is curated by an in-house editorial team that receives input from Epic’s advisory board, which is composed of publishing and digital industry experts, including Joanna Cotler, former publisher of HarperCollins Children's Books; award-winning author Jenni Holm; and Tim Ditlow, former Vice President and publisher of Listening Library/Random House, who is also Epic’sVice President of content. Read-to-Me titles, audiobooks, and Spanish-language and Spanish/English bilingual books are part of the content mix. Other notable features include an algorithm that makes personalized recommendations for kids based on their reading level and content preferences, and the ability to create personalized profiles (up to four per family) to keep track of reading materials individually within an account.

Additionally, Epic! (https://www.getepic.com/) has received many awards including, 2014 Top App of the Year from Creative Child Magazine, Dr. Toy 100 Best Toys of 2016, Mom’s Choice Award, 2016 Parents’ Choice Gold Award, 2016 Best App for Teaching and Learning, 2017 TabbyAwards, 2017 Teacher’s Choice Award Winner, and The Best Website for Teaching and Learning (The American Association of School Librarians). Since Epic’s debut, more than 40 million books have been read on the service. Epic currently ranks as the #2 highest-grossing app on iOS in the Kids category and the #3 highest-grossing app on iOS in the Education category.

Overall, Epic! (https://www.getepic.com/) is an eBook subscription service with over 20,000 books for children 12 and under. This tool could be an interesting tool to organize library reading challenge or track individual student reading progress. Though the large list of titles may be overwhelming for young children selecting books, the platform curates books for users based on their reading levels and interests. While the subscription service is a cost burden that not all families can bear, the cost ($4.99/month) still provides a lot of values in terms of features and functionality. Studies on screen time have not yet concluded how long or what types of activities are best for children to engage with on mobile devices. However, reading is much more positive screen based experience than the other game options that don’t have an easily recognizable educational advantage.

Finally, here’s the good news! The monthly fee is waived for teachers and librarians who have access to devices in the classroom and library media center. In addition, the layers of gamification in this app add an element of fun that could encourage children to engage in a more productive screen time. As Epic! (https://www.getepic.com/) describes on its site, students are already excited about using tablets and any Android devices, capitalizing on their interest in technology to help them develop literacy skills coupled with their existing learning interest.                                                                                          ,

IRA Newsletter Literacy Website #1

Lolita S. Torres

ED 638-40 Fall Intersession

Dr. M. Rivera

IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Websites #1

December 30, 2018

Good Sites For Kids (http://www.goodsitesforkids.org/literacy) is “public.” It is free and friendly user for parents, kids at home, including homeschoolers. Since this site is basically a list of links, however, they are not responsible for the content of other sites. It posted/advertised subscription sites that are pretty good but it doesn’t encourage the “public” to subscribe. It has shortcut icons for young learners to click such as these:

With ever more websites for children appearing, Good Sites For Kids (http://www.goodsitesforkids.org/literacy has chosen the best educational entertainment. It includes educational games, literacy, reading, grammar, animals, animal cams, ancient history, archaeology, ESL, early childhood, pre-K, geology, geography, history, American History, Vikings, BBC, Dolch’s Words, Indus Valley, Egypt, dogs, Pinterest, cats, horses, birds, dinosaurs, paleontology, weather, earth science, life science, astronomy, social studies, printables, downloads, coding, maker, technology, physics, maps, early childhood, children’s literature, lesson plans, educational, education, math, secondary math, myths, mythology, mathematics, coloring, art, science, elementary, school, biology, language arts, reading, read aloud, ESL, TEFL, TAG, Black Hills, nature, music, health, money math, finance, downloads, homeschool, unschool, animal cams, K-12, endangered species, multiplication, adding, addition, subtraction, division, parts of speech, biomes, habitats, chemistry, language arts, speech, speaking, early learning, life skills, holidays, activities, writing, YA, YA literature, books, telling time, what’s new,  and Women’s History.
Good Sites For Kids (http://www.goodsitesforkids.org/literacy) is very beneficial for teachers to access good quality, useful internet sites for literacy curriculum use. It is designed to help a busy teacher or the same teacher with a computer station as part of classroom learning station rotation, a parent who needs to reinforce their kids’ learning, a homeschooling parent/teacher, or some other interested party who is looking for good sites to help a child’s education. Overall, Good Sites For Kids (http://www.goodsitesforkids.org/literacy) engaged students and designed to deliver an optimal literacy experience to the users. Finally, it offers good potentials including increased engagement and motivation, greater learning, are too compelling to ignore.

Effective Literacy Website #3

Christina Kidd

ED 638-40

Dr. M. Rivera

IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website #3

Teach Hub (teachhub.com) is a great site for lessons, resources, support, and other professional development any educator needs created by educators, for teachers.

You can immediately locate free lessons with all you may need to go right into the classroom and use. Free lessons come with teaching tools, printables and also writing prompts, it’s quite a simple and useful site! The site continues its list of teacher resources by also offering Grad programs in areas of interest. Professional development and many topics are covered such as Common Core, Special Education, Education Technology, Differentiated Instruction to name a few.

One great part of this site is that it offers that you may not find on many educator sites are real teacher blog spots where you can locate possible FAQ’s you may have about subjects and struggles you may have in a lesson or classroom, etc. You will find that you are not the only one having these same struggles and questions and can read and share information from other professionals. You can gain not just information but real-life experiences, lessons, and motivation.

Techhub.com is literally an educator’s hub where teachers create, collaborate, and learn with other teachers just as if was a real time teachers’ lounge or professional development round table.

Effective Literacy Website #2

Christina Kidd

ED 638-40

Dr. M. Rivera

IRA Newsletter: Effective Literacy Website #2

            AboutReadWorks (www.about.readworks.org) is a nonprofit that provides K-12 teachers with a huge variety of literary articles they may use in their classrooms or at home with their children. ReadWorks offers reading and vocabulary support and tools as well as assessments and support for educators in reading comprehension instruction.

            This website offers products and features such as nonfiction literary articles, Article -A-Day activities, Audio versions of articles, vocabulary assessments and activities, and other lessons and units. ReadWorks is used in 3 different ways. Digital classes, where students can attend and complete assignments online, while teachers have access and can grade and provide feedback. The second use would be a teacher’s ability to print documents and resources from any content and curriculum to use physically in the classroom. If a teacher has a smartboard or projector in the classroom, there is another way ReadWorks can be used and accesses.

            This website offers audio versions of literary works for all subjects, and all grades and also offers ELL and SPED support for struggling readers. Article -A -Day is another feature they promote which comes with passages and vocabulary activities and assessments.

            The site is very easy to navigate, there are also options to filter what subject, topics, text types you may be searching for. For example, Reading Passages, grade 8 offers about 100 literary works in digital form. The passage will immediately tell you what grade level it is appropriate for, how many words the passage has, if it is fiction or nonfiction, etc. You have the option to have your student listen to the reading and follow along with a printed version they can have in front of them, as printing the key set is an option. Passages come with vocabulary activities already set up for you, Common Core Standards are notated, and comprehension questions and answers are readily available for the teacher to use.

            ReadWorks is a great website when seeking passages to fit your content area that you may not be able to find (free) online or in your school’s library. A class set can easily be made available by printing. Reading can be so much fun and interactive this way. ReadWorks provides an array of literary works, provides the material needed, and support and guidance each teacher needs when seeking passages and reading material. Students love to be read to, this website offers all the tools to help make learning fun!

            

Effective Literacy Website #1

Christina Kidd

ED 638-40

Dr. M. Rivera

IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website

            

Colorin Colorado (Colorincolorado.org) is a great website if you are an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher or may have some second language students in your classes and would love to find resources to guide you welcome and modify lessons and make learning fun. Colorin Colorado is a website for educators and families with ELL (English Language Learners) in grades PreK-12^thgrade.

The website offers a wealth of information and support for different grade levels, population, and by state. There is also a wide variety of links and planning sections for administrators and other school professionals with ELL learners in their schools. There are links and sections that offer support for program creation and planning, family outreach, etc.

Colorin Colorado is a great website for teachers most especially. Literacy instruction for ELL learners, strategies and best practices to name a few. Resources extend to video libraries, guides and tool kits. Creating a welcoming classroom for a second language learner may be new to some teachers. Not all educators have had the proper training or guidance in creating an environment that is culturally sensitive and welcoming. Creating a comfortable environment can be overwhelming. The Colorin Colorado website offers the support in helping educators be culturally responsive and learn to create and accommodate. 

            The website offers other drop-down menus that offer literacy links and features books for kids and young adults that celebrate a wide range of cultures. There is also a link for professionals with recommendations organized by topics such as content instruction, support for special populations, strategies for specific ages, and instruction and assessments.

Colorin Colorado is one of the best ELL literacy websites. The resources, support, links and education it offers is unending. The information you can find in this site can definitely increase the ability to identify, create and welcome ELL learners and identify resources, and continued guidance and strategies to maintain a successful year in the classroom.

Literacy Website #3

Mary Jane Cruz

ED638-40 Fall Intercession 2018

Dr. M. Rivera

IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website #3

            Oxford Owl (https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk) was created by the United Kingdoms leading education publisher, Oxford University Press.  The website has two parts, Oxford Owl for School and Oxford Owl for Home.  It is filled with free activities, games, and resources.

            Oxford Owl for School provides teachers with a growing range of tools and resources, including eBooks, storytelling videos, activity sheets, and assessments.  Teachers are able to explore free resources such as, Read Write Inc. Spelling or Phonics, Oxford Dictionaries, Big Writing, and more.  Each link gives articles, assessments, and worksheets that teachers can use in the classroom.  The eBooks allows teachers to create a class login and can be used as a class read aloud or independent reading.  Each eBook has activities relating to the story and teachers can use it as a quick assessment on student’s comprehension of the story.

            Oxford Owl for Home provides parents and children with literacy and math resources. Oxford Owl for Home provides thousands of free eBooks for ages 3-11. It has 6 stages of reading from first steps to independent reader.  With each stage children are able to build up and have more confidence in reading All the eBooks include exciting activities to keep reading fun. It also provides tips and advice so parents can support their child.  Oxford Owl for Home offers flash cards, reading kits, and activity books that parents can purchase.   

            Overall, Oxford Owl is a great resource for parents, teachers, and students because it provides various literacy tools and activities.  Students are able to access Oxford Owl anywhere using the Internet and in any device.  Parents are able to monitor their child’s reading and see what stage of reading their child is in.  Teachers have access to numerous teaching resources to enhance student learning.

Literacy Website #2

Mary Jane Cruz

ED638-40 Fall Intercession 2018

Dr. M. Rivera

IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website #2

            Storybird (https://storybird.com/) is a free website that allows students to create stories and poems using illustrations from the website. Storybird has picture books that are ideal for short, visual stories.  Students can use an artist’s portfolio or search a theme and load the images into the editor.  They can add pages, play with the images, and add text. 

            Storybird allows users to write novels or long chapters.   The chapter book format allows users to choose or create a cover page. Students can use long chapters to practice creating a story, plot, and characters.  There are no word limits per chapter and users can add as many chapters. Students can also create poems.  They can find an image and use words to drag over the art or image. Teachers can view student’s progress, provide feedback, and give grades.

            Teachers can create an account and create different classes.  Storybird allows teachers to create assignments and provides a class code so students can login at school or at home.  In assignments teachers can write a summary or set instructions to explain the assignment.  Teachers can also provide a link to explain or inspire students.  They can use media from Storybird, Youtube, or Vimeo.  Lastly, teachers can create a word list that students must use in their stories and assign the due dates.  The due dates will appear on the student’s dashboards as a reminder to complete the assignment.

              Storybird can be access on any device and students can log in using their class passcode.  All stories and poems can be read on any device and be downloaded as ePubs, PDFs, and .mobi files.  Storybird inspires students to create, write, and develop stories.  It can be used for all ages and for all subjects.   Teachers can have student create individual stories or have them collaborate in teams.  Storybird is a great tool for children to explore literacy by creating and inspiring them to be storytellers. 

Literacy Website #1

Mary Jane Cruz
ED683-40
Fall Intercession 2018
Dr. M. Rivera
IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website #1

     Scholastic (http://www.scholastic.com/home/) website is for teachers, parents, kids, administrators, and librarians. It started as a classroom magazine in 1920 and has evolved into publishing, selling, and distributing books and educational materials for children, teachers, parents, and schools. Scholastic’s mission is “to encourage the intellectual and personal growth of all children, beginning with literacy.” 

             Registration is free however; you may purchase items such as books, magazines, teaching and classroom materials. On the homepage there is the Scholastic Book Club where you can use the flyers given by the teacher or librarian and purchase the books online. The homepage also has the Scholastic Classroom Magazines and Scholastic News that you can subscribe to. On the top homepage you will see tabs for teachers, kids, parents, administrators, and librarians. Each tab will take you to another homepage filled with numerous literacy content. 

           The teacher’s homepage provides teachers with the Scholastic Book Club, lesson plans, teacher tool kits, videos, and more. Scholastic provides lesson plans for grades K through 12 in all subject areas and links books that you can use and purchase. The teacher tool kit gives teachers access to purchase teaching materials. Scholastic has thousands of videos such as virtual fields trips, holiday, historical figures, books, and authors. It has Scholastic Teachables which provides teachers with printables, Mini-Books, lessons, and clip arts that they can download for free or purchase by subscribing. 

               The kid’s section has two homepages, Family Playground for ages 3-7 and Scholastic Kids ages 8-12. The Family Playground has games such as I SPY, Word Girl, Magic School Bus, and more. Kids can play games based on storybook characters. They also have a section of stories such as Clifford and Alice in Wonderland. In Scholastic Kids, students are able to search for books of their interest, play games such as Tombquest and Spirit Animals, and download apps like Shadow House or Horizon. Lastly, they have a message board on numerous books where students can community with others about books they have read. 

          The parent homepage offers parents to purchase books, read articles, and print out free printables for their child. It also provides a book list that parents can browse through seasonal books, classic books, and popular books. The articles that Scholastic offers are relatable to family life such as, integrating technology with reading, different ways your child learns, and even healthy and easy recipes. The administration homepage shows how Scholastic has partnered with school districts on literacy instruction and professional development. The librarian homepage provides librarian’s author videos, fall book previews, and monthly newsletter updates. 

               Scholastic is a great website because it has been here for generations and has expanded to an online access. It is the word’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books. Scholastic is serving customers in more than 165 countries and 45 languages. The website provides lesson plans, games, articles, blogs, printables, and videos to enhance literacy.

ED638 Fall Intercession 2018

Dr. Rivera

IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website #3

Flocabulary (https://www.flocabulary.com) is an online resource/learning program that helps students who have a difficult time memorizing information, by helping them to memorize through music in a fun and effective way.  This approach was proven by Dr. Roger Farr, a former president of the International Readers Association, who in 2018 conducted an independent study to test the efficacy of Flocabulary.  His study found that the program significantly increased vocabulary proficiency among students of diverse backgrounds. The students using the program scored higher on state reading, than their peers not using the program. With the use of educational hip-hop music in all subjects’ areas, it has proved to engage students and increase student achievement in K-12 grade levels.

Flocabulary is a great website to help students develop core literacy skills with its standard-based videos, instructional activities, and student creativity tools to supplement instruction. The learning program is helpful to teachers and school districts to meet the Common Core standards in ELA and math through songs, videos, and exercises that are both engaging and fun for students and everyone participating. This program also provides lessons and units aligned with state and national standards for social studies, science, health and physical education.  

  Flocabulary is a great tool to promote literacy since its material and resources are fun and engaging for all that participate. With this website teachers can customize the children’s experiences in the classroom by using the videos and resources to enhance a lesson by providing interesting introductions, differentiated instruction for all students, test prep, and to enrichment activities for students. Through the many years of research, Flocabulary has designed a program with a multi-sensory approach of using music, rhythm, and rhyme to help support student engagement and achievement.  With the use of music to facilitate lessons, students are able to memorize and recall academic material, though hip hop music to promote and increase student engagement. Flocabulary is an award-winning vocabulary program, which is called “The Word Up Project” for grades k-12 it has been proven to increase vocabulary proficiency and raise score on state tests.

Flocabulary is not completely free, you can try their 30-day free trial offer to test out to see if Flocabulary works with your students. If you are interested in signing up with Flocabulary to help enhance learning, they provide an affordable individual plan for teachers as well as discounted group plans for schools and districts.

Overall, Flocabulary looks to be a great online resource for teacher and school districts who wants to improve their student’s vocabulary & literacy skills.  The website is also very organized and easy to navigate. The user-friendly interface is very inviting and with further exploration of the website it can provide you with all the information needed to learn about what Flocabulary has to offer.

Effective Literacy Website Review #3

          Upon your first visit to Seussville (http://www.seussville.com/), you are greeted with a whimsical, interactive homepage.   The homepage sponsored by Penguin Random House Company requires Adobe Flash capabilities because there are animations and sound.  If you explore the website during the Christmas season, you will be able to choose from the Grinchmas webpage (https://www.grinchgooddeeds.com/), which is a movement with Dr. Seuss Enterprises, Random House Children’s Books, and Universal Studios committed to ending hunger in America.  These organizations help fund year-round meals given to families in need through their generous donations to Feeding America(FeedingAmerica.org.). 

            Should you choose to enter Seussville, you will be able to play and learn through interactive games, activities, videos, and view books from Dr. Seuss’s many collections.  If you decide to view a book, you would be able to filter the titles by you learner’s age, characters in the books, choose from Dr. Seuss’s bestsellers, as well as listen to audio recordings of the books, read various biographies of Dr. Seuss, view the collections of Dr. Seuss books, and view the books when Dr. Seuss wrote under his pen name “Theo LeSieg”.   The downfall about this portion is that you are required to buy most of the selections, so it would be best if you read books you own and then connect it to the website’s games and suggested activities. 

            The second to the last button is a tab for Educators.  You may sign up to receive the latest news and resources from the website if you are an educator.   Under the educator tab, you may select from a Planning Calendar, Classroom Resources, Author Study, Books, Events and Programs, and Newsletters.  The Planning Calendar tab takes you to the Educator’s Timeline, which lists all the months of the year.  You may select a month and three different stories that you may incorporate in your classroom appear along with a brief description of how to use the book.  For example, in February on Random Act of Kindness Day, you may read Horton Hears a Who where you may teach kindness and perseverance. 

            One of the best tabs in the Educators section is the Classroom resources tab.  The website provides vivid, colorful, and free downloadable resources.  You may choose from the many pdf printables and activities, lesson plans, and the Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library.  The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library contains non-fiction resources that encourage literacy and learning about science.  The companion books are listed, but are not available on the website, so you would have to purchase the books separately. 

            Seussville is a fun website that offers colorful, whimsical, and nostalgic resources for parents and educators.  Although Dr. Seuss’s beloved books are not available online for free, you are given free resources and ideas to incorporate in your classroom.  Your learners may also play two games related to the books Fox in Socks, and What Pet Should I Get?  Learners may also earn points when they play the games.  They may create a personalized Who and redeem the points for prizes.